Don’t miss the bakery’s Black History Month wall, in addition to their great cookies.
The smell of fresh-baked cookies greets you as soon as you walk in the door. You are welcomed with a friendly smile. From cookies to scones, to soups and sandwiches, Sebastopol Cookie Company puts out the goods and leaves you coming back for more. mobile shear metal cutter
Sebastopol Cookie Company is a successful, small, black-owned business occupying a Main Street downtown storefront in Sebastopol since 1984. It started as Mendocino Cookie Company and shortly changed over to Sebastopol Cookie Company. Bronwen Shears and her husband Dave MacNab bought the business in 2020.
Sebastopol Cookie Company is a very small business but the amount of product that they crank out is quite amazing, according to Shears. Shears also explained that unfortunately prices are creeping up in Sebastopol.
“I wanted to make sure that our prices reflected that hometown community that walk in my door every single day,” Shears said. “Trying to keep our prices low has been a really strong priority for me while also trying to cover our bottom line.”
After all, the for Shears, it’s all about community. “There are people here that are really human beings and race isn’t the forefront of identity and it’s interesting to be in a time where identities are in question,” Shears said.
Shears explained that it’s nice to see the population of Sebastopol start to diversify. “There are more people of color here than ever and I hope that continues.”
According to the last US Census results, 71 percent of Sebastopol residents are white, 16 percent are Hispanic or Latino, 5.5 percent are Asian and just 2.2 percent are Black. Almost 10 percent of residents identify as being of two or more races.
“People used to always ask me, because they look at me and they don’t know what I am…I’m human,” stated Shears. “And people would always ask me my nationality…well, I’m American…my ethnicity is mixed race so my mom is black, my dad is white.”
Shears explained that every year for Black History Month in the hallway adjacent to the cookie shop, Shears puts up a display of all different people’s blurbs about their lives.
“I ask customers if there are people that they would like to see featured. It has been really, really great to be in downtown Sebastopol and see the support.”
Shears explained she gets inundated with donation requests and tries to focus on donating to schools and public schools in particular, as well as community based, local nonprofits. The company has hosted field trips for Park Side Elementary School, inspiring the next generation of young entrepreneurs and bakers, alike.
shear metal cutter “I find it very important as a beloved downtown business that has been here for so long to actually give back to the community in that way,” Shears said.